The Vandeleur-Lynams, a list now maintained by MountainViews have been done by some 10 people, including 3 last year. Mostly this is a life-time challenge, however James Forrest climbed all of them in 2 months.

Come and here his story in 3 venues as above.

There will be a short introduction from MountainViews about the Vandeleur-Lynams, including the history of the list and its current nature.

IainT2019-01-18 11:10:53

The Spine Race

The Spine Race is a 268 mile run up the Pennine Way in N England, run every January, often in vile conditions. Runners are unsupported but there are a few checkpoints where they can sleep or eat. They have 7 days to do it, or there is a shorter run, the Challenger, "only" 108 miles. Irish runners held both the men's and women's records at the start of this week. This year Dubliner Carol Morgan was first woman in the Challenger, 6th overall. She was on course to break the women's record until 60mph winds on the last leg (in the dark) slowed her down (it sounded completely epic actually). Eoin Keith from Cork was the first man home in the main race but only came 2nd overall due to the amazing Jasmin Paris, an Edinburgh vet who knocked more than 12 hours off the MEN'S record (held by Eoin) and finished a small universe ahead of everyone else. In the last year she has broken records on nearly every major ultra run in the UK (while having a baby at the same time!). An absolutely incredible achievement. Carol Morgan told one checkpoint "I'm quite ordinary really, but today you'll meet Jasmin, and she's extraordinary" (at that point Carol was half a day ahead of the nearest other woman so she isn't that "ordinary" either). Well done to Jasmin, Carol, Eoin and all the others who ran it. Just finishing is impressive.

Onzy2019-01-15 16:38:27

MountainViews Awards

The Irish Mountain Gathering will take place in the Lansdowne Hotel, Dublin 4 on Friday, February 22nd (7.30 for 8pm). As part of the gathering we will hold our yearly award ceremony for those who have completed lists or made significant contributions to the community. We have written to all those who, according to our records, are due to get awards. However, we are human, and errors do get made. So, if there is anyone out there, who does not get an email from us and who thinks they have completed one of our lists, please leave me a message on the site and we will sort you out.

As a relative greenhorn to summit lists, I was looking at local hills on MV and was surprised to find Koram Hill not listed. According to OS it stands at 372m and appears to be quite seperate from nearby Owenreagh Hill (400m). The smaller, nearby, Knockavoe (295m) is listed. Is Koram not listed as a seperate hill because it is seen as a lower ridge of Owenreagh? I'm just trying to understand the logic....many thanks!

My daughter, Ciara, has just completed an 11-day trek around the Annapurna Circuit in the Himalayas. She's not a particularly experienced walker, so completing it was quite the achievement. Here's her brief account of the experience:
Five of us set out from Besishahar on the 3rd of December without a guide or porter on the Annapurna Circuit trek. We each carried around 18kg or belongings and equipment. Each night, we stayed in local guest houses or tea houses run by indigenous Nepalese people. We ascended around 500-1000 meters a day until we got to the village of Dhukar Pokhari which was over 3000m. This was when we needed to start being careful as altitude sickness can be fatal and you should only ascend 500m a day and sleep lower than that if possible. The snow also started here so the conditions were tough.

We had around 6 days left of tough hiking from that point. The rooms were colder than outdoors as the heat from the sun sometimes was enough to keep you warm. Some of our clothes froze, there were no showers as the pipes froze and the toilets consisted of holes in the ground in outdoor huts - think to the opening scene of Slumdog Millionaire.

By the time we got to Thorang Phedi (4500m) we were close to breaking point. We met many other hikers who felt the same so we collectively decided to take a pretty dangerous chance and ascend 1000m the following day within 4 hours. There was a doctor in the group who said we had to be fast as altitude sickness takes 6 hours to kick in.

I got up at 4:30am and began trekking at 5:30 when we had a little bit of light. The views were spectacular but it was such a steep incline we were essentially climbing for the first 1-2 hours. At the top of the first mountain my hands and feet were burning and my legs ached so much. From High Camp (the first mountain summit) we continued to hike uphill for three hours, stopping every 5-6 steps to breathe as the air is so thin at that altitude. It was worrying, stressful and very painful. Our surroundings were magnificent, they looked like a painting.

We reached the highest hikable point of Annapurna, Thorang La Pass at around 10:30am. Descending was extremely difficult due to a blizzard and the steepness of the mountain. There were no paths so I was walking on jagged rocks for 3 hours. I also hadnít eaten anything bar half a bowl of porridge and all of my water froze so I had no fluids. We saw no one for three hours and by the time we got to an isolated tea house I was vomiting and shaking so much I had to call a local Jeep to drive me to the next town so I could get into bed. It was freezing, scary and agonising!

Iím in Pokhara now in an actual hotel and Iím beside myself! Iíve never appreciated running water or slightly higher temperatures more!

"... All social systems we've put into place are a mere sketch. One plus one equals two. That's all we've learned, but one plus one has never equaled two. There are, in fact, no numbers and no letters. We've codified our existence to bring it down to human size to make it comprehensible. We've created a scale so that we can forget its unfathomable scale ... "
- Lucy.

Every European is related to every other European. You, I and everyone we know can trace our ancestry back to everyone else in Europe. So why would we not choose to come from Viking warriors rather than faceless neolithic farmers? We don't. We choose drama over dullness. When it comes to place names we always favour hyperbole over lowperbole.
The translation of Carrauntoohil is an example. We translate it as O'Toohil's Sickle.
Can we see a sickle? Yes we can and no we can't. We can choose.

Hamlet:
Do you see yonder cloud thatís almost in shape of a camel?
Polonius:
By the mass, and Ďtis like a camel, indeed.
Hamlet
Methinks it is like a weasel.
Polonius
It is backed like a weasel.
Hamlet
Or like a whale?
Polonius
Very like a whale.

We choose it to mean O'Toohill's Sickle and not Jimmy Toole's Cairn because it's more dramatic.
Of all perpetrators of this excite fest, academics are the worst. The Loch Ness Monster exists. The most dangerous hurricane ever. Global Warming. 1+1 = 3 and they can prove it.
Only recently I was on Mangerton, which according to one mountainviews' mandarin translates as Hill of the Big Aunts.
Do I see any big aunts? If I choose, I do. "Ah! that must be Aunt Augusta."

Liam Lynch Loop in the Knockmealdowns
From Cahir, follow the R670 in the direction of Ardfinnan. From Ardfinnan, follow the signs for Goatenbridge (4k). In the village, turn right at the bridge (on your left), following the signs for the Liam Lynch Monument. The trailhead is at a T-junction 1k along the road.One can walk to the monument from Goatenbridge village (10.6km round trip) or alternatively one can drive to the forestry entrance and walk from there (7Km round trip)
The Liam Lynch loop winds up on well marked forest roads along the shoulder of Crohan Mountain and traces a stretch along the Glengalla River. It takes you within 200m of the round tower monument to Liam Lynch, whose death in the mountains in 1923 heralded the end of the Irish Civil War. On 7 April 1935, the anti-Treaty Government of …amon de Valera erected a 50-foot-high round tower monument on the spot where Lynch was thought to have fallen in the Knockmealdown Mountains .The impressive monument itself set in the forest is a striking fifty foot tower designed by Denis Doyle of Clonmel and is based on the form of the Irish round tower. The imposing tower is surrounded by four bronze wolfhounds, cast by Albert Power, set on limestone slabs at each of the four cardinal directions. A square carved limestone plaque was inserted in 1973. The monument also contains a stone lectern and is accessed via two humpback bridges with sandstone parapet walls
The sculptor Albert Power prepared plaster casts of Irish wolfhounds which were to be cast in bronze. Due to lack of funds these were never cast and the plaster casts were used for the unveiling in 1935. The bronze wolfhounds, erected 1996, are the work of sculptor Pauline O'Connell. The wolfhound is a motif, famously featured in the myth of Cķ Chulainn.
There are a number of trails in this part of the Knockmealdowns and one can also vary the Liam Lynch walk and divert around Knockmeal and over to Crohan adding on about 5km. There are fine views and a 360 degree panorama of the rolling countryside all round from the top of Crohan.

simon3a day ago.Just sometimes and just for a short while a damp forest can show a misty fairy side. And so it was one January day after a heavy raincloud had passed and the sun had majicked this sprite into the ...

Colin Murphy3 days ago.On my approach to the summit I came across a large field of hundreds of these rather striking formations, which I think are are moss-covered boulders, but which looked like giant green ant-hills o...

Colin Murphy3 days ago.My final Vandeleur-Lynam! Unfortunately No. 273 wasn't the most distinctive summit (when I came off Mangerton I couldn't even pick it out on the landscape) , but the views from the top are tremend...

Collaborative entry Last edit by: Colin Murphy3 days ago.Not normally done in isolation, this top usually forms part of a walk involving Dromderalough itself or Mangerton. One approach is from the north, which has the advantage of a gently rising track ...

eamonoc3 days ago.Visited Mullaghdoo today, as part of a 16.4km tek over the Mullaghs, followed Onzy`s track 2570 and added on the walk out to Mullaghdoo and back from Mullaghclogha, much retracing of steps require...

Pepe6 days ago.A blanket of cloud covered the higher Cooleys from Foxe's Rock to Foye but Slievenagloch was in the clear - happy days! Lots of logging activity at 9.30 of a Monday morning, so no space to park at...